Around about October last year, I received a text from my sister explaining that she was planning on taking on her first half marathon for charity and wanted to know if I wanted to do it as well. Not one to turn down a race, especially one I have never tried before, I entered the Surrey Half Marathon 2016.
The race was scheduled for a 9:00am start on Sunday 13th March 2016 at Woking leisure centre. Now, my training for this race wasn't as thorough as I had originally planned but I felt a lot better prepared for this than I did for the Longleat 10k (less said about that the better).
I travelled down the night before and stayed at my sister's house in Epsom. Lucie and the boys were meant to come too, but unfortunately both lads were poorly, which was gutting as I love seeing them at the finish line of a race.
I was excited about this race. I wasn't expecting to match my time from the Severn Bridge half, but was hopeful of a half decent time. It was also a chance to race in my new trainers which I had for my birthday; these beauties:
Adidas Ultra Boost, as recommended after a gait analysis at the Triathlon Shop in Bristol. They are a very comfortable, lightweight shoe which provide a good level of support around the ankle and an excellent amount of cushioning on impact.
I digress, back to the race. I woke early on the Sunday morning and had a massive bowl of porridge and a banana. I was in good spirits and couldn't wait to get started. My sister on the other hand was nervous as hell, which was fair enough. I remember how I felt the morning of my first Half Marathon. It was the Stroud Half, back in 2009 and I felt sick right up to the start. We left the house around 7am, stopping to pick up two of my sisters friends who were also taking part, and arrived at Woking at about 8am.
The race village was set up outside Woking Leisure Centre, and was already very busy. There were a few stalls selling various things, a DJ and music playing and the weather was dry and sunny. All in all a good vibe. The bag drop off was well organised and after several visits to the toilets we headed to the start. I wasn't sure which time slot to line up with. I didn't think I'd manage the same time as the Severn Bridge half so I found a place between the sub 40 and sub 50 markers. Around four and a half thousand turned up for this race and there was a good atmosphere at the start. The countdown arrived. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and we were off!
I got off to a good start, and managed to get up to a pace of 4 minutes 20 a kilometre. I didn't know how long I could keep that pace up for, but I kept going. I changed my race plan, and decided to try and keep my average pace as close to 4 minutes 30 as I could. This seemed to work well. The route was nice, with some fantastic support coming out to watch, including many live bands and small orchestras which were a real boost. It wasn't quite as flat as the organisers made out but the hills weren't too bad. The one section of the race I wasn't keen on was a long downhill stretch in the middle which seemed to go on and on and when you got to the bottom you had to do a U turn and head straight back up (see map below). This was a tough section, although it was nice seeing the other runners coming down, I even spotted my sister who was going along nicely at the 2hr10 marker. A nice touch here, was placing a split timer at 10km. According to the splits, I ran the first 10km in under 44 minutes. Considering my 10k PB is 44:48, I was very happy with how it was going.
My pace started to slow a little by the time I got to 9 miles, with my Garmin reading 4 minutes 37 per kilometre. Still, not bad and I felt comfortable-ish. Miles 10 and 11 were tough but went by with no drama and so came the final push. I slowed a little on mile 12, thinking I would save some energy for a grand stand finish, which kind of worked. The mile 12 marker came and went, so I tried to up my pace to finish, but it didn't increase by much. The final mile seemed to go on and on forever, but finally I could see the big, red inflatable finish line ahead so I went for it. Only, it wasn't the big, red inflatable finish line, it was a bloody petrol station! I had gone for my fast finish only to realise I still had a quarter of a mile to go. What a numpty! I wasn't happy. Anyway, I pushed on and rounded the last corner where I could see the real, big, red inflatable finish line and a home straight lined with supporters. I had a little left in the tank and went as fast as my legs would take me and finally crossed the line.
My official finishing time was: 1:37:02. A new PB! An unexpected PB, and I was over the moon.
Overall this was a good race and I enjoyed it, but one negative for me was the lack of goodies at the end. This race was over £40 to enter, which is quite a lot for a half marathon, and the only thing the finishers received was a medal, all be it a nice medal. However, I have entered cheaper events, with awesome goody bags for the finishers including a T-shirt and other various treats. To be honest, it's probably just me being picky but I do love a free T-shirt! I shouldn't complain, this race got me a PB and that's better than any goody bag.
Bring on the next event!
Rating:
Pros
Well organised
Bag drop off
Atmosphere
Great support
Lovely route
Plenty of water stations
Cons
